Military Newspapers Calls For End Of Gay Ban

August 20, 1992|By N.Y. Times News Service

WASHINGTON — The unofficial weekly newspapers of the Army and Air Force have called on the Pentagon to end its ban on homosexuals in the armed services, although just last year they refused to publish an advertisement praising gay soldiers in the Persian Gulf war.

The publications, Army Times and Air Force Times, say in editorials in their Aug. 24 issues that ``discrimination based on sexual preference is no more legitimate than that based on race, gender or religion.''

A sister publication, Navy Times, wrote in June that the ban should remain but not be actively enforced.

Last July, the Army Times Publishing Co. of Springfield, Va., which publishes the three newspapers, rejected an advertisement praising gay soldiers because the publisher said the armed forces had no homosexuals.

Tom Donnelly, editor of Army Times, said Wednesday that the company's advertising department rejected the ad, and that the editorial staffs were not involved.

Donnelly and Lee Ewing, editor of Air Force Times who wrote the editorial both newspapers published, said they opposed the ban because it did not make sense.

``It just seemed like a policy that in practice and in principle was insupportable,'' Donnelly said in a telephone interview.

The editorials add to a growing chorus of opposition to the military's policy. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to repeal the ban.